The invention relates to a method and a system for determining a number of transfer objects which move from a first sub-region of an observed region into a second sub-region of the observed region.
In many fields of technology and daily life, great importance is attached to the counting of movable objects. For example, a storeowner is interested to know how many visitors visit his store within a given period of time.
In the counting methods known from the prior art for applications of this type and similar applications, systems that comprise a video camera connected to an image analysis unit are used as a counting device. A system of this type is designed to observe a region, for example the entry region of a shop or means of transport, to recognise and localise objects moving in the region, and to trigger a counting event when one of the objects crosses a predefined boundary running in the region, for example a door threshold, which runs in the region and divides it.
These known methods have the disadvantage however that objects which move to and fro within the observed region and pass the boundary a number of times in so doing trigger a counting event each time they pass the boundary. Objects that display such behaviour are also referred to as re-entrants. These can falsify a result of the count considerably.